No shore thing: Jersey beach businesses battle perception over readiness to open

Joe Guarino is convinced this summer will be a good one for his 47-room motel in Ortley Beach that was battered by Superstorm Sandy last October.

After gutting and renovating 20 rooms on the first floor, rebuilding the swimming pool area, repairing the roof and putting in new windows and furnishings, he is confident it will be business as usual this sea­son at the Starlight Motel and Luxury Suites.

“It’s going to be tough, but we are going to be OK,” Guarino, a squat, energetic man with a no-nonsense manner, said on a recent morning.

Yet the scene of disarray around the gleaming, re­vamped Starlight suggests reality may not play out as optimistically as Guarino hopes.

Across the street, Barnacle Bill’s Arcade and Mini Golf was an empty shell with no machines, furniture or front wall, a 20-foot statue of the namesake now lying on the sidewalk and construction workers — guests at the Starlight — still rebuilding the storm-de­stroyed 18-hole mini-golf course.

Behind it, a house was under construction and four others in the short row were being repaired. The road adjacent, which leads to the beach, was closed to ve­hicles, and the roads around the Starlight, which oc­cupies most of a small block, were pocked with bad­ly damaged houses or those undergoing renovation.

Stakes are high

The contrasting pictures symbolize the disconnect playing out at the Jersey Shore, as businesses scram­ble to be open for the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start to the summer season — hopeful that customers will come, worried that they won’t.

While Ortley Beach, one of the worst-hit communi­ties at the Shore, is an extreme case, there is a strong sense among business owners that for all their efforts, and those of state and local government, to get the re­gion ready, they may not be able to overcome factors such as the sheer scale of the damage, a public percep­tion that many Shore communities remain badly hurt, and the slow pace in repairing damaged rental and owned homes — which will really kick in when the season starts in earnest in late June, when schools close.

The stakes are high. Tourism accounted for 7 per­cent of the state’s gross domestic product, generat­ing $37.7 billion in sales in 2012, state figures show. Of that, about half was generated in the four Shore counties — Ocean, Monmouth, Atlantic and Cape May, which together directly employed 130,000 peo­ple.

At the Starlight, Guarino believes his regular cus­tomers — some of whom have been visiting the mo­tel for decades — will want to come to see old friends, and won’t worry what’s going on outside the motel.

“We just need the beach open,” he said.

Other businesses, even in less-damaged commu­nities, were less optimistic.

“You’ve got to think positive,” said Don Alonzo, a former Clifton resident, who owns a Stewart’s Dri­ve-In fast-food restaurant a couple of blocks from the ocean at Point Pleasant Beach, but added: “My gut feeling says it’s not going to be like it was.” Next door, Richard Bilotti, formerly from Ruther­ford, is fearful of what the summer will bring as he seeks to recoup some of the $300,000 he has spent — with another $100,000 expected to spent — repair­ing damage wrought by Sandy on his 30-room mo­tel, Surfside Motel, of which insurance will cover less than one-quarter.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as good as a lot of people say,” he said of the season.

Across Broadway, Ira Waldman, co-owner of Point Beach Automotive, said that although his car­repair business is not as seasonal as a motel, he still relies heavily on the summer influx of visitors, who bring in their cars for repair while they relax on va­cation, or who need emergency repairs.

“We are definitely concerned, there is no question about it,” said Waldman. He spent $45,000 to repair storm damage to the garage and replace ruined ma­chinery.

How many will come?

Uncertainty is the norm for business owners at the Shore, where the success or failure of a regular sea­son comes down almost entirely to the weather. But this year, the scale of the unknown has taken a quan­tum leap.

While business leaders along the coast say they be­lieve the vast majority of businesses will be up and running by midsummer, if not Memorial Day, the unanswered question for many owners is how many people will come.

The New Jersey Division of Tourism reported in March that a survey it conducted of regular Shore-go­ers found that 77 percent said they would spend as much time in 2013 as they did the year before. The report also said, however, that the damage may result in shorter stays at the Shore, and bookings may be last minute The impact will likely vary from community to community.

Point Pleasant Borough lost some key businesses, including a Stop & Shop supermarket and a strip mall, said Eileen McCabe, executive director of the borough's chamber of commerce. Most businesses are back, except a gas station and some waterfront restaurants, she said.

She expects a surge in visitors because Seaside Heights is still struggling to get back to normal. "As much as there is devastation, there is a boost to the economy as well," she said.

In Spring Lake, which suffered little damage, The Johnson House Inn, a bed and breakfast, is taking bookings at about the same rate as in previous years, said co-owner Hellin Desiderio, a former Wyckoff resident.

"Right now, it hasn't affected our reservations," said Desiderio, adding that the 10-room B&B has been booked for Memorial Day weekend for a month.

Toby Wolf, marketing director for Jenkinson's Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, said the company has talked to numerous people in the tourism industry, trying to get a sense of what may happen this season, and there are two scenarios.

Some think people will rally behind the Shore community, energized by the scenes of destruction and hardship, she said. Others fear the images have created the lasting impression that the Shore is still devastated and not worth visiting, she said.

"We have had a lot of people who thought even Jenkinson's was demolished," said Wolf. "And that was not the case. It's going to be a lot of hard work on our part to let people know that we are ready." The boardwalk will be almost fully operational, with the exception of a few elements, such as one of its three mini-golf courses, she said. And Jenkinson's said it has hired at the same rate as last year, taking on 1,000 seasonal workers, including 100 to 150 on temporary visas from overseas, she said.

The customer uncertainty complicates numerous business decisions, from what level of staff to hire, to how much material to buy and equipment to get ready.

Frank Sirianni, owner of Toms River-based Bay Berry Ice Cream Co., says he doesn't know how many of his 15 ice cream trucks - which serve Ocean County, Long Beach Island and other parts of the Shore - to put on the road. For each, he has to hire a driver and pay several thousand dollars in maintenance, insurance and other costs - money and effort that's wasted if there are too few visitors.

"Nobody knows what's going to happen," Sirianni said. "We are going to wait and see, for Memorial Day weekend, and see how things look. Then I'll make a decision after that." He has already concluded, however, that he will not send a truck on two routes - which include badly damaged sections of Ortley Beach, Normandy Beach and Toms River - because there will be too few customers.

For many Shore businesses, the number of customers seems inextricably tied this year to how many homes remain unusable - either because they are damaged or destroyed - and how dramatically that inventory reduction will diminish the foot traffic through the region. There are signs that the inventory loss is sizable, but a variety of tourism and real estate agencies, and state officials, contacted by The Record could offer no concrete figures.

In Point Pleasant Beach, not as badly damaged as Ortley Beach, the rows and rows of bungalows on Ocean Avenue, which runs into the town's main commercial center, were dotted with trash bins, still-damaged properties and contractors working feverishly to finish repairs.

Raffaele Santoro of Wayne said his own business, Santoro's Pizzeria and Sandwicheria, will be ready for Memorial Day weekend, after he spent about $30,000 on repairs. But he thinks 10 percent to 20 percent of the nearby bungalows won't be ready for use.

Lee Childers, owner of Childers Sotheby's International Real Estate, said the number of rental properties available in the area he serves - including communities from Point Pleasant Beach to Seaside Park - is probably down 30 percent from past years.

The number of inquiries is down 30 percent too, with actual rentals about 50 percent off past years, he said. Childers partly blamed erroneous public perceptions of the state of the Shore. Many people don't realize that while some communities were badly damaged, others have largely returned to normal, he said.

"Today, Prince Harry walked along Mantoloking to see all the destroyed houses," Childers said this past Tuesday. "But just north in Bay Head, is much less destruction. Further south, Lavallette is almost back to normal. So what will happen is on the news tonight they will see Prince Harry and say, 'How awful. We can't go to the Jersey Shore.' But it's not true." Shawn Clayton, co-owner of a Bay Head real estate office that handles Shore rentals, said in a typical year most rental agreements would be in place by Memorial Day weekend, but business this year is late starting. One reason is people are waiting to see how much the Shore bounces back before they put their money down, he said.

"They want to see that the beach is back to where it was," he said. "They want to see the functionality of the town, what it's going to look like on their summer vacation." Another reason is the owners of damaged homes are still finishing repairs, and it's tough to rent a property that can't be viewed, he said.

Anthony Rega, 35, of Carlstadt is one such owner. Tuesday morning, he was installing appliances in the two, two-bedroom apartments in a Point Pleasant Beach bungalow he owns - having spent $100,000 of his own money to repair storm damage.

He said he had no idea how hard it will be to rent the apartments because they are still being repaired, which he expects to address by Memorial Day weekend. Rega said he thinks many of the neighboring properties won't be ready on time, which could help the prospects of renting his own property.